The Long Tan Cross at the famous Vietnam War battle site is coming under physical and political pressure as the Memorial, like Galipoli and Hellfire Pass in Thailand, becomes a focus for Australians keen to honour our war dead.
The increasing popularity of the Cross and difficulties with its upkeep has led the Long Tan Memorial Cross Fund Committee , with the support of RSL National President Maj Gen Peter Phillips, to propose to the Veterans Affairs Minister Ms Dana Vale that the Cross come under the auspices of the Australian War Graves Commission.
The Fund Committee raised money in 2000 to have the Memorial repaired. The Australian Veterans Vietnam Reconstruction Group (AVVRG), a non-government aid agency, became the officiallcustodians of the Cross at the place where 18 Australians died and 22 were wounded on 18 August 1966 in an intense battle against the Viet Cong's D445 Bn and 275 Regt.
In recent years, growing numbers of visitors and breaches of protocols, agreed with Vietnamese authorities, have raised concerns for the future of the Cross. The protocols require visitors to obtain written permission, keep their visit low-key and not wear uniforms or medals. Numbers are limited to about 20 visitors at a time.
At Dawn on Anzac Day this year, about 50 Vietnam Veterans, relatives and others held small remembrances at the Cross. Another 'official service' held at 9 a.m. attracted a simillar number.
According to tour operators,the threat of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), led to last minute cancellations by a number of veterans as well as an official Australian Parliamentary Delegation. Without these cancellations numbers would have been much higher.
Long Tan Memorial Cross Fund President Kel Ryan says planning has to start now for the time when more and more Australians will want to visit the Cross on significant dates, such as Anzac Day or Vietnam Veterans Day.
At this year's ceremony, three large wreaths were laid at the Long Tan Cross -- according to Vietnamese views, a breach of the guidelines. A couple veterans turned up wearing camouflage uniforms, one even had the three Vietnam service ribbons and the Combat Infantryman's Badge sewn on . Others detracted from the solemn occasion by cracking open an early morning stash of Tiger beers.
Rod Burgess AVVRG's in-country President says visitors must understand the delicate nature of the memorial's existence.
"For years now, I've expressed to all and sundry that the Cross is a privilege given by the Vietnamese Government," Rod explains. "It would take very little for the Authorities to remove the Cross. People who breach our protocols do not help the situation."
"In my position as signatory and custodian of the Long Tan Cross, I now have to explain to the Vietnamese authorities the actions of certain people on Anzac Day," Rod Burgess said.
For their part, the Vietnamese are of two minds. Reports say Hanoi estimates the province could generate up to US$2 million annually in tourism revenue. The Long Tan Cross is important to that objective. But for the local Long Tan Villagers visiting Australians are a constant reminder that their own dead from 18 August 1966 lie just a few kilometres away in the Heroes Cemetery outside Baria along Route 2.
Rod Burgess is supported by Graham Smith, Secretary of the Cross Fund and a former D Coy 6RAR signaller who fought at the Battle of Long Tan.
"I am sure that most veterans will do the right thing" Graham says. "But a few rednecks will make it difficult for us."
In 1969 during the 6RAR's second tour, RSM WO1 Jimmy Cruikshank came up with the idea of the Memorial Cross. The Battalion's Pioneer Platoon built the concrete Cross which was erected and dedicated on the third anniversary of the landmark engagement.
After 1975, the Long Tan Cross was removed. Eventually, it was found above a local Catholic grave in a cemetery east of the former Task Force Base at Nui Dat. From there, the original was taken to the Dong Nai Museum in Bien Hoa, north-east of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), where it forms part of an exhibition.
In 1989, following the Vietnam Government's adoption of more moderate economic policies, the Long Dat People's Committee was anxious to obtain more Australian aid and tourism in the former Phuoc Tuy Province, now known as Vung Tau-Baria. They erected a replica of the Australian Cross at the battle site along with a small memorial to the VC soldiers sacrificed in the battle.
Early in the morning of Anzac Day 1989, a small group of veterans participated in a re-dedication service. The group was led by former 7RAR digger, Sandy Sanders who also brought more than a hundred kilos of gifts for a local orphanage. Sandy now lives in Can Tho in the southern Mekong Delta and was at the Cross this year.
Despite the official support for the Cross, even in those times, the Memorial was a sensitive political issue. In a bid to lessen those political tensions, Sandy attempted to get official Vietnamese involvement in the re-dedication service but the Vietnamese reneged at the last moment. Local Vietnamese have remained touchy since.
In the years after 1989, the Cross fell into disrepair, despite the efforts of expatriate Australians in Vietnam. The surrounding fence fell down and the pristine white of the Cross became splattered with the area's red soil so familiar to Australian Veterans.
In June 2000, Graham Smith and Kel Ryan a former 5RAR digger and veteran of two tours, formed the Long Tan Cross Memorial Fund to raise money to restore and maintain the Cross. The group raised some $25,000. Veteran Peter Michelson, then working for the International Red Cross in Viet Nam, helped negotiated with Vietnamese officials to repair the Cross.
The repairs cost only $7500 and the balance was donated to the AVVRG's Nui Dat Kindergarten Project, a two-room kindergarten for 40 children from the village that sprung up around the former airstrip at Luscombe Field.
The AVVRG is has built another kindergarten at the village of Da Bac northwest of Nui Dat and has a long association with the Centre for Disabled Orphans in Baria, which AVVRG built and later extended. The orphanage itself has become a regular stop off for returning veterans and its guest book on Anzac Day was full of visitors from all over Australia.
Mick O'Mallon, the in-country Secretary of AVVRG advises veterans not to make ad hoc donations at the orphanage. He suggests that if they want to assist, direct donations to the AVVRG would be more appropriate becuase the orphanage is getting regular monthly support payments from AVVRG.
Paul Murphy, AVVRG's Australia-based President is proud of the Group's accomplishments, "Things have changed since the first days back in '94, when we rebuilt the school at Hoa Long with 4 vets and 3 civvies and 12 Vietnamese," says .
"It was a mammoth task to get them there plus 400kg of tools from Australia and a lot of help from the local Vietnamese Peoples Committee at Baria plus BHP Steel, Telstra, ICI Paints, and private donations for gear and equipment only. The whole crew paid their own way," he says.
Political issues aside, however, the area around the Cross is undergoing constant change. As the Australians were honouring their dead this year, a unit of the People's Army of Vietnam in the rubber only 100 metres away was just dropping out of their hammocks to begin another day's work constructing a new road south and east of the Memorial.
The road, which should provide all-weather access to the Memorial site, is being built from rock quarried from Nui Dat 2 just north of the battle field. During the battle itself, the hill was believed to be the headquarters for the attacking Viet Cong forces. Because of the heavy cloud cover and rainstorm, the hill was the only target the USAF could identify for an air strike.
Today, at the edge of the rubber just above the slope running down to the foot of Nui Dat 2, a Vietnamese family have established a farm with half a dozen cattle and a paw-paw orchard. The farmer's wife smiled and waved, the rubber tree tappers called out "A lo" and the young soldiers gave a jocular shout to the last of the visitors left the memorial site on Anzac Day. Maybe there is scope for hope.
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